Master Schedule Synchronization Best Practices

What It Is

The Master Schedule Synchronization Best Practices Guide is a practical playbook for aligning CPM master schedules with the detailed, collaborative planning that happens in Touchplan. It provides step-by-step workflows to ensure contractual milestones, pull planning, and field execution stay in sync. Click here to download the full guide.

Who It’s For

This guide is designed for:

Project managers and schedulers managing CPM schedules (e.g., Primavera P6).
Superintendents and field leaders running pull planning, make-ready planning, and daily huddles.
Owners and A/E teams looking for confidence that the master schedule matches the work actually being done.

Inside the Guide

Introduction

This guide outlines best practices for managing both the Master Schedule and Touchplan to ensure alignment between the overall schedule and the work plan the team is executing. It walks through setup steps, planning phases, and update processes to keep schedules connected.

Master Planning

Build and manage the master schedule in a CPM platform (no farther than Level 3).
Manage Pull Planning, Make Ready Planning, and Look-Ahead plans in Touchplan (Level 4+).
Regularly update the master schedule using progress information from Touchplan.
Export the CPM schedule (e.g., from P6) into Excel to create a bridge between systems.
Assign imported master schedule tickets to a Baseline or Master Schedule Role in Touchplan to easily track and filter them.
Use these tickets as the framework for pull plans, which determine how milestones will be achieved.

Phase Planning

Import the master schedule into Touchplan and use it as a foundation for phase plans. Two approaches:

Single Plan Approach
- Keep a master schedule plan in Touchplan, maintained by the admin team.
- Copy sections into working phase plans and build detailed plans beneath the master schedule tickets.
- Link the first and last tickets in each plan to the corresponding master schedule ticket.
Split Plan Approach
- Break the master schedule into multiple plans.
- Build detailed activities beneath master schedule tickets as umbrella activities.
- Link start/end tickets to master schedule milestones.

Executing Work

Once the plan is built, teams begin using it in weekly meetings for:

Make Ready Planning
Commitment Planning
Daily Huddles

During these phases, the team works primarily in Touchplan, updating and revising the plan as the project evolves. Updates in Touchplan should flow back to the master schedule to reflect actual progress.

Learning & Continuous Synchronization

In the Learning phase, lessons learned from each stage inform the others to keep both systems aligned.

Best practices for synchronization:

Export updated Touchplan data (via P6 export) at regular intervals.
Reimport into the CPM master schedule to reflect changes.
Conversely, export updated master schedule data back into Touchplan using the Update and Create option.
Review plans to ensure that new or changed tickets are accounted for in the work plan.

This cycle creates a continuous loop of synchronization, ensuring that both the contractual schedule and the execution plan remain aligned.